In The New York Times, former Microsoftie Julie Bick writes about what some of her friends and former colleagues have done with their money.
"While the exact number is not known, it is reasonable to assume that there were approximately 10,000 Microsoft millionaires created by the year 2000," said Richard S. Conway Jr., a Seattle economist whom Microsoft hired to study its impact on Washington State. "The wealth that has come to this area is staggering."
Many employees spent their money immediately, in a variety of ways. If the stock price hit a new high, for example, five new sports cars might drive into Microsoft's parking lot in Redmond, Wash., the next day. Big-screen video projection theaters and indoor pools built to resemble the rocky caves of Hawaii appeared in employees' homes. One employee treated 30 family members to a weeklong vacation at a five-star resort. Another endowed a professorship in his name at Oxford University.
Comment: the man who sits in the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford is, of course, Richard Dawkins.
